Dropped an iPhone in water? Follow these steps, quick!

Other than dropping an iPhone onto solid ground and watching it smash to bits, dropping it by accident into water is likely the next most unnerving thing that can happen to your precious gadget. If this ever happens to you, don’t panic (too much) and follow these instructions that can potentially save your iPhone/iPod Touch.

Remove iPhone/iPod Touch out of water immediately (d’oh!)

Power off the device (quickest way is to hold down both power/sleep button and home button for several seconds)

Remove sim card

Place iPhone in a ziplock bag filled with uncooked rice

Tighten bag to remove as much air as possible and seal it.

Leave for at least 24 hours before opening bag/container and attempting to power on device

Rice as you may already know, is a natural desiccant and it can help absorb the moisture found in a previously submerged iDevice. While I have never tested out this “fix”, Chantelle over at iPhoneAppGirl.com told me yesterday that this method does indeed work. Having dropped her brand new iPhone 4 into a bucket of water a week ago (not on purpose I can assure you), she quickly quarantined her phone in a tupperware container filled with fried uncooked rice and left it in there for 24 hours. Luckily for her, the phone turned out just fine after the quarantine and she hasn’t had any problems since. Here’s a photo of her iPhone 4 chilling and drying out.

Update: Aside from just the rice, you could also throw in some Silica Packets (buy some or use the ones that came with your new pair of shoes) into the bag as well. They’re designed to absorb ambient moisture. [Thanks Chantelle!]

Take a look at the video below by repair site iFixYouri as they take you through step-by-step on what to do should this happen to you. Hopefully you’ll never have to resort to the method, but it’s always good to know – just in case.

This procedure worked for me. First time my iTouch was wet for too long and I powered it on too soon. Dead forever… Second time I followed the procedure mentioned above and it worked. I did leave it in the rice for longer than 24 hrs though just to be safe.